Articles --> Ziemia Sieradzka

Catalogue structure

The structure of this publication is based on the first catalogue developed for the Mazovia region. The layout is subordinate to the basic goal of the project, which is to catalogue and inventory the vanishing material heritage created by the Dutch colonists, who developed previously uncultivated areas of the Sieradzka and Wielunska Lands, including:

* Rural settlements
* Homesteads
* Residential and farm buildings
* Churches
* Cemeteries

Therefore, field research was an essential element of the project. Its purpose was to:

* verify the range of the Dutch colonisation; that is, to identify and describe villages established as part of this colonisation,
* catalogue all objects that had not been previously included in the inventory,
* verify the information regarding the catalogued objects,
* obtain current photographic documentation of the objects.

Unfortunately, during the preliminary survey of the library holdings at the National Heritage Board of Poland in Warsaw, it was discovered that restoration documentation for objects potentially related to this colonisation does not exist. Therefore, collection of information about the sites associated with the Hollander settlement was considered the highest priority. In developing this catalogue, I have taken into account and described individual objects related to this colonisation. As was the case in Mazovia, the actual number of settlements founded by the Dutch in the Sieradzka and Wielunska Lands turned out to be larger than the data provided in the literature.